The Iron Cross
Berlin, 30.03.2004.
The Iron Cross is firmly established in German history. Originally conceived as an award for acts of bravery, the Iron Cross soon became a national symbol. Since 1956 it has been the emblem of the Bundeswehr.
![Enlarge image](<portal:urlFind file="bwStyles/images/icon_zoom.gif"/> "Enlarge image"){kind=icon}
"During the present major catastrophe on which everything depends for the fatherland ..." This is how the deed begins which established the Iron Cross signed by King Frederick William III (in German: Friedrich Wilhelm III) of Prussia in Breslau. The deed is dated 10 March 1813
The best-known German medal has its origins in the War of Liberation against Napoleon. The Iron Cross was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the Prussian architect and sculptor. The spirit of the War of Liberation is reflected in the way the medal was awarded. The Iron Cross was awarded regardless of rank to officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.
One out of every twenty combatants was awarded the Iron Cross for his commitment during the war. Some 9,000 awards were issued directly, other recipients had to wait until persons who had already been decorated died and their crosses could be awarded anew. Prussia was a poor country that had to economise.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 the Iron Cross was reinstituted. Its design was retained, but the date of its establishment was changed on its face. Members of non-Prussian force contingents, too, were now eligible for this award.
At the beginning of World War I, the Iron Cross was re-established for the third time, by German Emperor William II on 5 August 1914. Of the approximately 13 million who fought in the war, almost one in three was awarded one of the Iron Crosses suspended from a black and white ribbon.
In addition, the Iron Cross was for the first time used in a stylised form as a German national emblem. The cloth-covered wings of Germany’s first military aircraft, for instance, were marked with the Iron Cross.
During World War II further grades of the Iron Cross were instituted. Test pilot Hanna Reitsch was the only woman to receive the Iron Cross in 1942. Changed into a bar cross, it was also used on tanks and aircraft of the Wehrmacht.
Among the officers who participated in the plot to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1944 were 13 recipients of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. 711 recipients of the Knight’s Cross later served in the Bundeswehr, with 114 of them reaching the rank of general. All in all, the number of Iron Crosses issued during the war totalled some 2.3 million.
The establishment of the Bundeswehr in the 1950s brought the traditional award for acts of bravery back to mind. It was the only decoration used in the vehicle warehouse in Bonn where Federal Minister of Defence Theodor Blank appointed the first 101 soldiers of the new armed forces.
On 1 October 1956 the Federal President gave directions to use the Iron Cross as the official emblem of the Bundeswehr. Today, in the colours blue and silver, it is the symbol of the new Bundeswehr . However, this design does not replace the traditional black national emblem.
